A lawsuit filed by Leah Remini on Wednesday in opposition to the Church of Scientology incorporates numerous disturbing allegations in opposition to the group, its practices and high-ranking members.
Together with claims Remini’s been “stalked, surveilled, harassed, threatened, intimidated” and is the sufferer of “intentional malicious and fraudulent rumors” on the web, the 60-page doc made a number of mentions of Tom Cruise because the actress says her life as a Scientologist modified after his 2006 wedding ceremony to Katie Holmes. Remini, who labels Cruise as “basically second in command” within the church, can also be suing chief, David Miscavige.
The Church of Scientology responded to Remini’s lawsuit in an announcement to Yahoo Leisure Thursday, calling it “ludicrous” and “frivolous,” characterizing her allegations as “pure lunacy.”
“[Scientology] will not be intimidated by Remini’s newest act of blatant harassment and try to stop truthful free speech,” the assertion mentioned.
Listed here are the seven largest bombshell’s from Remini’s lawsuit.
1. Remini filed an inner report after TomKat’s wedding ceremony — and it’s a “excessive crime” to “criticize” the actor “in any means”
Remini believes her standing inside the church modified after Cruise’s 2006 wedding ceremony to Katie Holmes. Within the lawsuit, the actress refers back to the High Gun: Maverick star as Miscavige’s “greatest pal” who “is basically second in command in Scientology.”
“It’s a Excessive Crime in Scientology to criticize [Tom] in any means,” the submitting claims, noting that in 2004, Miscavige supposedly advised an viewers of Scientologists at a gala in England that Cruise was “essentially the most devoted Scientologist I do know.” (Yahoo reached out to a rep for Cruise relating to the lawsuit, however didn’t instantly obtain a response.)
The occasion was billed as “the marriage of the century,” so Remini says she was stunned when Miscavige’s spouse, Michele (“Shelly”) Miscavige, “was nowhere to be discovered.” Shelly’s “job was to continuously document every thing” David mentioned “so {that a} staff of secretaries might later transcribe his phrases and orders for dissemination all through Scientology.”
“When Ms. Remini requested a gaggle of Scientology executives and Tom Cruise’s private handlers … ‘The place is Shelly?’ she was instantly admonished by the group, although she and Ms. Miscavige had been good associates,” the lawsuit claims.
“Ms. Remini witnessed different habits on the wedding ceremony that set off crimson flags for her, together with unethical contacts between varied Scientology executives and others on the wedding ceremony which she understood to be forbidden by Scientology teachings,” per the doc.
Remini shared her issues in a written “Information Report” and it was submitted inside the church — “Ms. Remini had been brainwashed into believing that by submitting reviews like this, she was serving to Scientology and saving her faith” — and that apparently did not go nicely.
2. Remini claims she was punished and held at a Scientology facility for 4 months after TomKat wedding ceremony
After Italy, Remini alleges she was ordered to go to Clearwater, Fla., to the Flag Land Base constructing (referred to as “FLAG”) which “is taken into account the non secular headquarters of Scientology.” The actress claims she was compelled to “bear a fast ‘ethics cycle,’” which as a decades-long Scientologist, “was one among her life’s worst nightmares.”
“Upon arrival, Ms. Remini was offered with dozens of inner reviews from Scientologists complaining about her habits on the wedding ceremony. It was clear to Ms. Remini that she was being punished for asking the place Shelly Miscavige was and for submitting reviews on David Miscavige and others. Ms. Remini was held at FLAG for 4 months whereas she was put by a course of that price her tons of of 1000’s of {dollars} and almost led her to have a psychotic breakdown,” the lawsuit alleges.
“After months of psychological torture, Ms. Remini was nearing the purpose of psychotic breakdown. She lastly gave in, rescinded all of her reviews, and admitted that she was the issue on this scenario (regardless of it not being true),” it continues.
Remini in the end left FLAG and returned to L.A. “the place she was compelled to mislead her colleagues, associates, and household about what occurred whereas she was in Florida.”
3. So as to make ‘amends’ to Cruise, Remini claims she donated cash to Scientology causes
Remini alleges she needed to make peace with David and Cruise. “For instance, she was compelled to donate cash to call a seat in a theater after Suri Cruise and was to lift cash for donation to Scientology causes led by Tom Cruise,” the lawsuit reads.
The actress estimates that in her greater than 35 years as a Scientologist, she spent round $5 million.
4. Remini alleges she was reprimanded for trying up rumors about Scientology on-line
Scientology’s worldwide base, Golden Period Productions, in Riverside County, Calif. was accused of horrific abuse in 2009. (The church has denied these claims.) “Remini endured one other six months of punishment for trying on the Web and asking questions in regards to the abuse,” the lawsuit alleges.
After her alleged punishment, Remini resigned from Scientology in 2013 and filed a lacking individuals report on Shelly, who has not been seen in public for 17 years.
5. CNN was allegedly harassed by members of the church and in the end did not run an interview with Remini
In 2015, Remini says she was supposed to advertise her guide Troublemaker on Anderson Cooper’s present — however the interview did not make it to air.
“As a result of Scientology’s historical past of aggressive litigiousness, the interview was pre-taped in order that it might be vetted by CNN’s authorized division. Earlier than the interview started, Mr. Cooper warned Ms. Remini that the interview won’t air. Mr. Cooper advised Ms. Remini that when he aired a five-part sequence on bodily abuse being perpetrated by David Miscavige (Scientology: A Historical past of Violence), he and his producers confronted so many [Office of Special Affairs] assaults that they may not be keen to face a brand new storm of harassment,” the lawsuit claims. “Since Cooper’s sequence aired in 2010, he has by no means broadcast one other story about Scientology. To at the present time, defendants proceed to take care of assault web sites in opposition to Mr. Cooper and his producers.”
CNN declined to remark when contacted by Yahoo.
6. Conan O’Brien purportedly surprised by Scientology ways
In 2017, the actress appeared on Conan to advertise her Emmy-winning A&E docuseries Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath. She claims the defendants had been persevering with “their marketing campaign to harass and discredit her,” so O’Brien was despatched “a private letter criticizing Ms. Remini and claiming that Remini was solely talking out in opposition to Scientology for the celebrity, cash and a spotlight.”
“Mr. O’Brien commented that he has by no means earlier than acquired a letter of this character in his 24 years of internet hosting late-night speak reveals,” the doc claims.
Yahoo reached out to a rep for O’Brien, however didn’t instantly obtain a response.
7. Remini alleges she was stalked by a mentally ailing man who wished to interrupt into her residence
The actress claims she’s been stalked, surveilled and harassed for years — and nonetheless is. She particulars a disturbing incident from 2020 by which she claims a person with “a historical past of psychological sickness and a violent legal document” was usually parked exterior her residence.
“Upon data and perception, offered by former prime Scientology operatives, Defendants armed this man with a car and cash to stalk and surveil Ms. Remini. Over the course of a number of weeks, at Defendants’ behest, this man rammed his automobile into the safety gates of Ms. Remini’s group and requested residents for Ms. Remini’s handle, saying he was ready to get into her home, falsely claiming he had been there a number of occasions earlier than, and that he wanted to get an even bigger ladder so as to attain her bed room window,” the lawsuit reads. “He was finally arrested after which launched, at which level he known as the police to allege that Ms. Remini was holding hostages at her residence. After police responded to Ms. Remini’s home, he was once more arrested.”
Remini alleges Scientology operatives usually hunt down “people with psychological sickness or who’re homeless or hooked on medicine, and different susceptible individuals so as to harass its enemies.”
“As just lately as 2023, an unidentified male was recorded on video surveillance arriving at Ms. Remini’s gated group in a car armed with a hammer,” the doc provides. “This unidentified man drove to Ms. Remini’s residence and smashed her mailbox, which she has to maintain locked, to illegally seize Ms. Remini’s private mail. Police responding to Ms. Remini’s name surmised that he had been despatched by Scientology and, upon data and perception, he was despatched by Defendants.”
Editor’s notice: This story was initially printed on Aug. 2, 2023, and has been up to date with new data.